In Chicago, where I live, land use planning is largely the domain of the zoning code. The Alderman has control over granting variances to the zoning code (Aldermanic prerogative). Thus, the Alderman’s office has tremendous control over whether anything gets built because, despite the fact that Chicago’s zoning ordinance was re-written only 10 years ago, much of…
I would like to follow-up on my Planning for People in Jefferson Park post and expand a bit on what it means to “plan for people”. For at least the past 60 years, the architecture, planning and engineering professions have fundamentally changed the way they designed cities. Cities, a creation of the human race for…
Geography is fun. I’ve been playing around in Google Maps. Here are two maps made locally for my Chicago neighborhood of Jefferson Park. The first, a map of all parking lots in downtown Jefferson Park: The second, a map of election results from the February 24, 2015 municipal election in Chicago. I’ve mapped the…
I’ve been playing around in Google Maps. Here are two maps made locally for my Chicago neighborhood of Jefferson Park. The first, a map of all parking lots in downtown Jefferson Park. The second, a map of election results from the February 24, 2015 municipal election in Chicago. I’ve mapped the results of the…
If you plan cities for cars & traffic you get cars & #traffic. If you plan for people & places…via @PPS_Placemaking pic.twitter.com/MxYvlTS9fS — TODERIAN UrbanWORKS (TUW) (@TODUrbanWORKS) July 9, 2014 Recently there has been a surge of planning work being done in my neighborhood, the once sleepy corner of the northwest side of Chicago…
Today is a new day. A few weeks ago I announced my resignation as a transportation planner at Metra, the commuter rail agency in Chicago. Now I have started the next phase of my career as a transportation planning consultant with HNTB Corporation, working out of their Chicago office. One of the principal reasons for moving…